What are we missing? An empirical exploration in the structural biases of hashtag-based sampling on Twitter

D'heer, E., Vandersmissen, B., De Neve, W., Verdegem, P. and Van de Walle, R. 2017. What are we missing? An empirical exploration in the structural biases of hashtag-based sampling on Twitter. First Monday. 22 (2). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v22i2

TitleWhat are we missing? An empirical exploration in the structural biases of hashtag-based sampling on Twitter
AuthorsD'heer, E.
Vandersmissen, B.
De Neve, W.
Verdegem, P.
Van de Walle, R.
Abstract

The hashtag is a recognized and often used method to collect Twitter messages. However, it has its limits with respect to the inclusion of follow-messages, or @replies, that do not contain a hashtag. This paper explored to what extent the inclusion of non-hashtagged responses affected the study of interactions between Twitter users. We drew from the Twitter debate on the 2014 Belgian elections, collected under the #vk2014 hashtag. Our dataset included non-hashtagged responses to assess (1) how they differ from hashtagged responses; and, (2) how this affects the conversation network. The findings showed that (1) hashtagged responses were more likely to include other interactive elements (e.g., hyperlinks); and, (2) the inclusion of non-hashtagged responses generated larger and more reciprocal networks. However, central users further strengthened their position in the network.

JournalFirst Monday
Journal citation22 (2)
ISSNFirst Monday
Year2017
PublisherUniversity of Illinois at Chicago Library
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v22i2
Web address (URL)http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/6353/5758
Publication dates
Published06 Feb 2017
LicenseCC BY-NC-ND 4.0

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